Abstract

Thesia Garner (2003) "Economic Well-Being Based on Consumer
Expenditures and Personal Assessments of Minimum Income and Minimum
Spending." Proceedings of the Section on Social Statistics, 2003,
American Statistical Association.

Minimum income and spending data from the SIPP are used to ascertain
levels of living using expenditure data from the CE. Thresholds are
compared to the out-of-pocket spending by consumers for all items. This
approach is new, as earlier studies compared income only to such
thresholds. An additional analysis is conducted using the minimum spending
thresholds in which actual out-of-pocket spending on food, shelter,
clothing and other basic items is considered. Coefficients from SIPP
regression-intersection estimations are applied to the characteristics of
the CE sample to produce minimum income and minimum spending
thresholds.Thresholds are produced for different consumer unit types as
well as for different regions of the country, and for owners and renters.
Personal assessment thresholds and results are compared to those based on
official poverty thresholds and thresholds based on National Academy of
Sciences Panel recommendations. Out-of-pocket expenditures serve as the
basis for the resource measure rather than income.